Being in Guadeloupe (located in the French Caribbean and not in Mexico, for those who don’t know), I received an invitation to watch Sergio Vargas’ concert, entitled “Toque de queda” (Curfew) held last night, Sunday, November 08, on the new streaming platform, Ultra Conciertos.
I confess that I had never attended a show by this star of merengue (national music in the Dominican Republic) before and I did not want to miss such a great opportunity. I specify that even if gwo ka, biguine and zouk are the musical rhythms of Guadeloupe, the archipelago is very open musically so I know merengue…
So I logged on several minutes in advance, merengue notes were already putting the audience in the mood and a speaker was promoting the next two concerts – Don Miguelo and Marcos Yaroide – scheduled on the same platform.
At 9 pm on the dot, Sergio Vargas and his ten musicians were on stage and began to play as if the audience was physically in front of them. During the concert, the Dominican artist said a few words about the Covid-19 epidemic or about merengue music as a spearhead in a country that lives largely from tourism, and offered hit after hit without any technical problems interrupting the broadcast.
Halfway through the concert, an “interview” of a few seconds was broadcast, which was the time necessary for “El negrito de Villa” to go back on stage with a red shirt, a red hat, red glasses and a red ring to continue to thrill spectators. After an hour and a half concert, Sergio Vargas said goodbye to his virtual audience, who sang and danced with him in front of its screens.
The cultural world in the Dominican Republic – a Caribbean country highly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic – is damaged but, as we can see, it is fighting to innovate and to continue to exist…
